I see quite a few German soldiers in uniform traveling on the trains but I've never seen any females. I wonder if they're in hiding? The uniforms are so ugly I wouldn't be surprised if they never appeared in public wearing them.

I see quite a few German soldiers in uniform traveling on the trains but I've never seen any females. I wonder if they're in hiding? The uniforms are so ugly I wouldn't be surprised if they never appeared in public wearing them.

Well, I don't think there are very many of them, teach. But by definition they must all be volunteers, so maybe they have different conditions to the draftees, and don't have to wear uniform when off duty.

Actually, I can't think of any country at all that has large numbers of women soldiers, except for America and Israel. How many does Britain have?

Hehe! What a masterstroke that would be! - not only would the politician making the proposal lose at least half his popularity overnight, but if the measure were actually taken up, it would cause an increase in taxes, because Germany would then be paying a few hundred thousand more people to do precisely nothing, and without making much of a dent in the unemployment count.

You don't have any more tricks up your sleeve, do you, Hod?

Quote:

...and none of this Zivildienst for softies either.

If you got rid of the Zivis, just about every OAP home and hospital in Germany would be in severe financial trouble, if not bankrupt overnight, and the only way to prevent this would be....... you guessed it: higher taxes.

Listen Hod, I know German politicians have a high casualty rate from self-inflicted gunshot wounds to the foot, but is it really necessary for you to encourage them?

But, contrary to your suggestion, I think there is a VERY good case for sending every young man to Zivildienst by default, and only letting them go to the Bundeswehr if they objected.

Look at it this way: if you send them to the Bundeswehr by default - as they do now - it makes a mockery of the word "-dienst" in "Wehrdienst", because they contribute nothing to defence or society and basically only cause costs. They can't be used for anything at all, except filling sandbags when a river breaks its banks, or something like that.

But if you send the majority to Zivildienst, they really would be giving something to society. They would also be reducing the cost burden on the German state and its institutions, and I think that would be a far more worthwhile way of spending their time.

If Germany insists on taking a year from young mens' lives, they might as well be doing something useful that they can be proud of.

But if you send the majority to Zivildienst, they really would be giving something to society. They would also be reducing the cost burden on the German state and its institutions, and I think that would be a far more worthwhile way of spending their time.

If Germany insists on taking a year from young mens' lives, they might as well be doing something useful that they can be proud of.

Absolutely brilliant idea! Now is a good time to lobby Herr Schröder with this idea. It would help him with his tax/social costs reduction plan and be seen as him finding an excellent way to give back to society in Germany.

I don't want to rain on your parade, but the 60,000+ vacant positions in the Zivildienst sector are to be filled by the longtime unemployed, the so-called 1 Euro jobs (the unemployed are paid 1-2 Euros per hour for full-time work in addition to their UB) are to keep them away from black market labour, to help them get used to a regular working day and to help them get qualified in other areas.

Get rid of Zivildienst altogether and conscript these young men and women into teaching at language schools. The Bundestag, or whatever it's called, would make huge profits - currently made by inlingua et al - and unemployment would half overnight.

Posted: Wed Oct 13, 2004 3:55 pm Post subject: Canadian married to a German

What are the chances of me (a Canadian certified teacher) and my wife (a German Early Childhood Educator) finding teaching jobs in Germany? I'm a native English speaker with mild competency in German and French. My wife is a native German speaker with near-fluency in English. I have 2 BA's and a B.Ed. My wife has her 2 year ECE diploma from Germany and she's in year one of a BA in Canada. My wife has a German passport and she's a Permanent Resident of Canada. Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

Whether or not you can get jobs depends on what types of jobs you're seeking. If you have in mind to get into the state school teaching jobs with your or your wife's (current) qualifications, forget that. Impossible.

If you can be content with the low EFL rates then whether or not you can get work depends on where you want to live. Also, if you've read the hundreds of posts on this board you'll know that you will not be paid according to your degrees or other qualifications. You're likely to begin at the same rates as the backpacker drifting through and the rates won't rise much after years spent teaching EFL here. No doubt, language schools would be delighted to have someone with your degrees working for them at between 11 and 20Euro (brutto and no benefits) per hour though.

If it were me making that decision I'd wait until my wife had finished her BA before moving to Germany. There are several reasons for saying this.

If she stays in Canada to finish her degree and gains a teaching cert. and is willing to jump through all the bureaucratic hoops to have it recognised here she could probably get a good-paying job in a state school and support you. You are unlikely to make enough money to support the two of you whilst she attends school in Germany and are unlikely to make enough money to support the two of you in Germany even if she doesn't go to school. Why should she consign herself to a low-paying job in Germany when, as a German citizen, she could get much better paying work with a degree and a teaching cert.?

warren, you didn't say how long you envisage staying in Germany. It makes a difference if you intend to stay for the long term, because then you will have time to build up contacts and improve your own German language skills.

If you only want to live there for the short term, then it probably doesn't matter when you do it - assuming you can get jobs of one sort or another, and can support yourselves. You just go when you've got something, and play the rest by ear.

However, what LTT says makes sense, and it seems a good idea to let your wife qualify before you actually move. Which of course does not stop you from looking for opportunities in the meantime...

I assume, since you've said you don't speak German, that Canadian is your 'first' citizenship but I also assume that Germany won't recognise it as such since, in Germany, once a German always a German no matter where one goes or what other passport(s) one acquires.

If only that were the case. The unfortunate truth is that Germany does not officially recognize dual citizenship. Furthermore, German citizenship is automatically lost when a German citizen voluntarily acquires the citizenship of another country. This happened to my father when he was naturalized in Australia.

Jetgirly should consider herself very fortunate that she managed to aquire German citizenship without losing her original citizenship. I'm very interested in how she actually managed that considering I'm in a similar situation (although I actually speak German).

Master Kaiser (heil!)
Jetgirly got her German passport the same way I did. I'm a dual US/German citizen. The difference is she and I did not "acquire" citizenship-- we were dual citizens from the moment we were born. We did not naturalize as Germans. That's the only way you can be a dual citizen in most countries around the world. The only thing we did is acquire the passport, i.e., the proof of our citizenship. You are correct that Germany and the US do not officially condone dual citizenship, but they recognize it exists. Both countries don't like it because there may be situations where you have to choose between competing sovereigns. I sure hope not, I'll burn that bridge when I come to it!